So You Think You Can Dance, May 31st – What Happens in Vegas …

As Ricky dances, Mia calls him amazing and wonders how he managed to stay under the radar until then. Nigel calls him tremendous, Mary extraordinary, Shane beautiful, and Mia says he is now her favorite male dancer in the competition, which he considers the best compliment ever. Dancing for their life are hip-hoppers/breakers D-Trix, Hok, Twitch, and Jamar, and up first is Steven “Twitch” Boss, doing a breaking routine, while Mary claps along yelling, “Whoo!” Nigel gives two yes votes from himself, as Mary tells the others they should take a lesson from him, as that was entertainment. Shane and Mia vote yes as well. D-Trix receives all yeses as he does a routine of mostly spinning on his head. Hok does a really weird, amazing dance on his knees and with Nigel and Mary, and Mia voting yes, Shane tells Hok he’s killing him.

Watching the others, Jamar knows he has to do something special, and tries tap dancing, but his shoes come off part way through, as he finishes in his socks. Nigel tells him he has been great so far and has a great personality, yet all four judges vote not with him. Evita then dances for her life, and is allowed to use Michael as a partner, despite the fact he has already been removed from the competition. Nigel says he can’t keep putting her through on personality, and everyone else votes no as well. She says she knows she was eliminated not because of dancing, but because of her style, but it’s okay, as she and Michael love what they do and they hop they just put the charleston and lindy hop out there for larger audiences to see.

With sixty-three dances now remaining, they thing their day is over, and as they get ready to go back to their rooms, they find their day isn’t over yet. They are broken up into groups, and as a group they pick out a CD that holds one of five songs. The group swill then choreograph their own routine and be ready to dance it the next morning.

A group containing Faina, Collette, Michael, and Jaimi started upbeat with a group hug, but then had problems with the contemporary choreography. Faina had problems with the choreography and asks a bunch of questions about it right as everyone is getting ready to go to bed, frustrating Michael. They reserve to take shows in the morning and dance until breakfast is served. After they finish the routine, Nigel asks who choreographed it, and they says it was a mixture of people. Michael is told it’s the wrong style for him, and he votes no, along with Mary and Mia, w hile Shane is the lone vote for him to stay. All three girls make it through.

Hannah-Lee Sakakibara is nursing her ankle. She’s the one that had been in the collapsed building in Israel. In her group are Olivia Usey, a hip hip dancer, a ballet dancer, and another dancer named Lauren. The hip hopper choreographs the routine for them, and Lauren wants to include her own stuff as well, prompting arguments between herself and the hip hopper, giving Olivia just one more thing to complain about. They do a part in their dance when they’re all lying on the floor in a circle, and they do the wave with their legs. Hannah-Lee is told they aren’t sure if it’s her ankle or not, and as Nigel and Mia vote note, Mary and Shane vote yes. She’ll be dancing for her life on that ankle and spends her time trying to find a routine that will showcase her and not her injury. The other four all make it through.

The final group we see includes Jessi Peralta that had used the baby oil in her audition. They can’t find her at the beginning of the routine and she pops out of a suitcase. Nigel tells them they were a mess as a group, and not being sure what to do with them, the judges decide to make them all dance for their lives. Jessi says she’d rather do that than go home. She’s the first up to dance for her life for this last round, doing a lyrical routine. Nigel says if anyone is unsure what he means when he talks about performance, she just showed them. Shane calls her the sickest female on the show right now, and the others make it unanimous that she moves on. When Hannah-Lee gets up to do her routine, it’s obvious she can’t continue with her injury as she limps around and even carries her leg at one point. Shane and Mia are the only ones to vote yes, and that’s not enough during this round to stay.

This leaves fifty dancers that will now each dance a solo for the judges for the last time in Las Vegas. The judges will then comb through them, and tomorrow night, they will decide among them who should be the final 20. Just like with American Idol this year, we didn’t get to see a lot of this important round, and it hurts us, as we don’t get that important “bonding” time with the contestants. I predict, though, that we’ll find a lot of the missing favorites from the auditions that we haven’t seen since then. Who do you think stands a good shot at making he final 20? Email me at LauraBelle@realityshack.com